In day-to-day operations, minutes matter, and so does the time it takes to prepare work safely and consistently. At a compressor station in Virginia, a preventive maintenance checklist for electrical equipment that could take a full day, sometimes two, was completed in about 1.5 hours using approved AI tools and refined prompts.
At Williams, AI is used to speed up repeatable tasks and improve access to reliable information, helping teams spend less time assembling documents and more time planning, prioritizing and executing safely. The goal is practical: reduce administrative drag, increase consistency and support better decisions across the business.
Williams’ approach is governed and people-led: teams use approved tools, and employees remain responsible for the decisions and actions those tools support.
“Breaking silos is a workflow change. Shared data leads to shared context and shared accountability,” said Andy Williams, an operations supervisor.
Time savings like this reduce administrative drag in the field and free crews for planning and higher value work.
Andy Williams, operations supervisor.
Shortening time from idea to execution
By putting tools such as Microsoft Copilot in the hands of frontline gathering and processing teams, Williams is shortening the time from idea to execution, helping teams get more value from the data they already have, such as spotting patterns that contribute to downtime.
The same focus on cycle time is showing up in software delivery. Williams’ IT teams are using AI-assisted coding to modernize applications and deliver new software faster while maintaining strong cost discipline. In one modernization example, AI-enabled development reduced implementation cost by 55% and delivered 60% faster.
What this means: Copilot helps teams automate routine work like preventive maintenance checklists and troubleshooting guides, enabling faster issue resolution and more consistent execution.
FAQs
A: Employees are using Microsoft Copilot and other approved function-specific AI tools as part of daily work.
A: Commercial teams improved how they use storage data, generating a $7 million uplift in “park and loan” business (a type of natural gas storage transaction) and reducing rework by bringing key operational and commercial information into a single, real-time view.
A: Frontline teams use AI to automate routine work such as preventive maintenance lists and troubleshooting guides; in one Virginia compressor station example, a list that used to take a full day, sometimes two, was completed in about 1.5 hours. Williams’ IT teams are also using AI-assisted coding to modernize applications, with one example reducing implementation costs by 55% and delivering 60% faster.